


A House is not a Home

by grlgoddess



Category: Greek and Roman Mythology
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-20
Updated: 2012-12-20
Packaged: 2017-11-21 19:50:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/601448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grlgoddess/pseuds/grlgoddess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Artemis seeks justice for a defenceless child.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A House is not a Home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Violsva](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Violsva/gifts).



The goddess Artemis was travelling through the woods near a village on the road to Thebes when she heard in the distance the screams of an infant. She approached the sound, and soon found the child. Abandoned, it lay on the ground, wrapped in just a thin blanket, not nearly enough protection for the autumn night. Within hours, were it not for Artemis, the child would be at the banks of the River Styx. She picked up the child, and it's crying immediately ceased. The child looked up at it's saviour with adoration, one eye blue, the other green. She was only days old – too young to be away from her mother's breast, let alone left in the woods for even a moment. The goddess wanted to know why anyone who worshipped the gods would leave this child out to die.

Two sets of human tracks led to and from the place where the child had lain, and no attempt was made to hide them. Artemis easily followed the tracks to the nearby village, and to the house that sat at the edge of the woods, ominously set apart from the other homes. But Artemis and the child were not the first to reach the house. A pair of travellers, no doubt en route to Thebes, reached the door just as Artemis reached the edge of the woods. She retreated a few steps to hide from the travellers, but still close enough to see how the homeowners would treat their guests.

The travellers knocked on the door, and were received by the wife. They barely got out their reasonable request for a place to spend the night before the cruel woman laughed in their faces. She called into the house, and her boorish husband joined her at the door to laugh at the travellers unfortunate enough to call on their door. Once they had their fill of mockery, he slammed the door in the confused travellers' faces.

Knowing now that the ones who abandoned their child also disobeyed Zeus' law of hospitality, Artemis would spare them no mercy. She hid herself and the child in the image of a young village girl, and approached the offended travellers. After hearing their tale confirm what she saw, she directed the pair to a house further in the village that always gave more than the required sacrifices and would not break xenia, welcoming the travellers as they should. Once that was dealt with, the goddess regained her usual form, and turned with cool fury back to the house.

She knocked on the door, knowing that while nothing would stay her vengeance, perhaps the mortals might redeem themselves slightly. She was sorely disappointed.

The foolish pair opened the door, not seeing her for what she was, nor recognizing their own child. They mocked them both, seeing only a wild girl and a child she couldn't be expected to care for. The goddess said nothing in response to their taunts, but when they stopped again to laugh, she silently transformed before them into full regalia. Her bow in one hand, the child in the other, she advanced into the house, the pair in front of her finally recognizing her godhood, having the sense to cower before the Huntress. Their pleas for mercy and feeble excuses abruptly ceased when she swiftly turned them into a mute bull and cow.

Satisfied with her work, she turned her attention to the child, who was just beginning to cry again. This was not the desperate, lonely cry that had led Artemis to her, but the simple cry of a child with needs that had to be met. So Artemis fed her, cleaned her, then lay her down on the cleanest patch of ground she could find in the filthy place. 

Once the girl was settled, she set about looking for a set of leads for the new animals that were currently bumping into the walls in confusion. Their stable was as ill-kept as their home, their animals half-dead in miserable squalor. Furious again, wishing she could punish them twice, she calmed herself knowing that she had done what was needed. She released the animals, knowing that they'd be safe in the village and would find greener pastures and better owners in no time. The equipment for the animals were in such a condition that not even the poorest and most desperate goatherd would accept them as gifts. Eager to further her vengeance in even the smallest of ways, she took the items in the worst condition to use on those who had let them fall into such disrepair.

As night fell, she let the family spend one last night in their pathetic home. The parents found nothing but discomfort in the small and stinking place, while the child rested peacefully in the goddess' arms.

When her brother began again his route across the sky, she roughly woke the animals from their slumber. She fitted the equipment on them, filled with fierce pleasure at the revulsion clearly found on the creatures faces. She secured the child on the back of the cow and set off into the village.

On the other side of the village was a woman who had gone through several failed births. Despite her struggles, neither her nor her husband had grown less kind or hopeful that one day they would get the child they so desired. Artemis decided to finally give them the child they would never get on their own, along with a pair of animals who would now have no choice but to support until their death the child they had tried to get rid of.

She appeared at the couple's door, taking on the form of a young girl, and spun the tale of her as an unwed mother, desperate to find a safe home for the child she couldn't keep. She claimed the animals were a gift from her father, to keep their family's secret and shame private. The kind woman was sympathetic, and eagerly agreed to take on the child. She and her husband took the animals to their new home, a stable that was cleaner than their house, and left the goddess to say a private farewell to the child.

The baby looked up at Artemis, curiosity and love radiating from the innocent child's mis-matched eyes, and Artemis laid her hand upon the child's head, blessing her.

"Live well, young one, be better than your parents were, and I swear to you our paths will cross again."


End file.
